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Cross Valley Expressway’s River Street on-ramp nearing completion

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<p>During his third annual public forum Wednesday, Luzerne County Manager C. David Pedri highlighted the restored courthouse rotunda as one of county government&#8217;s major accomplishments for 2018.</p><p>Completed by Connecticut-based John Canning Co., the $2.13 million project cleaned, repaired and conserved art, stained glass, marble and other finishes throughout the rotunda and south lobby.</p><p class="n_ 3824 v5">The restoration recently received a prestigious 2018 Trumbauer Award from the Institute of Classical Art and Architecture, Philadelphia Chapter, Pedri said.</p><p>Council granted his capital plan request for a $650,000 earmark to proceed with the next phase of restoring the remaining sections of the first floor. Pedri told the three citizens attending the forum &#8212; Brian Shiner, Mark Rabo and Kevin O&#8217;Brien &#8212; that bids for this work came in under budget and a contract should be awarded soon.</p><p>In future years, Pedri wants to work with judicial officials on a plan to restore courtrooms, possibly addressing one per year.</p><p>Among the other 2017 developments he highlighted in addition to releasing a lengthy report of division updates that will be posted on his section of the county website at <a href="https://www.luzernecounty.org/884/Managers-Yearly-Review" target="_blank">www.luzernecounty.org</a>:</p><p>&#8226; Payroll was synchronized so all employees are on the same cycle and paid for time already worked instead of in advance.</p><p>&#8226; A more engaging county website went online, replacing one that was &#8220;basically a PDF dump.&#8221;</p><p>&#8226; A county Facebook site has attracted more than 3,000 likes and increasingly linked the public to job openings.</p><p>&#8226; The rear courthouse entrance was reconfigured to enhance security, including the addition of a gun lockup with a security camera that eliminated the need for security guards to turn their backs on those possessing guns to lock up the guns.</p><p>&#8226; A deficit that lingered on the county books for several years and reached a high of $16.9 million was cleared, which means any surpluses will help build a reserve that carries over from year to year.</p><p><strong>Budget</strong></p><p>Pedri said the county&#8217;s newly adopted 2019 budget is tight but balanced and should be sustainable as long as there are no unforeseen emergencies or higher expenses due to two pending death-penalty cases.</p><p>The budget eliminated some unrealistic revenue, and he promised to step up monitoring of receipts to ensure spending cuts are made if any categories fall short.</p><p>The largest 2019 project will be a 911 emergency radio upgrade estimated at $20 million, and he urged citizens to push legislators to award a $1 million gambling grant that would reduce the projected cost to $19 million.</p><p>Competition is fierce for the gambling revenue, but the county request should receive priority because the 911 project involves public safety and benefits all residents in all municipalities, he asserted. He said other worthy projects are seeking the funding.</p><p>&#8220;There are also some unworthy ones,&#8221; Rabo said.</p><p>When Rabo requested an update on the new $5 vehicle registration fee, Pedri said the state won&#8217;t start collecting the fee until 2019 because it had issues with the council ordinance, specifically about details of a sunset provision that automatically ends the fee if the state does not continue providing a match of up to $2 million after the first year.</p><p>The fee will yield an estimated $1.4 million annually to repair the county&#8217;s 302 bridges and approximately 125 miles of county roads, not including the state match. Pedri believes the solicitor&#8217;s office has provided specifics needed for the state to start collecting the fee.</p><p>At the end of the conversational forum, which lasted about 90 minutes, Shiner announced he is forming a new nonpartisan group called Luzerne County United to get citizens more involved. He said he supports the home rule government, which will mark its seventh anniversary in January, but believes more public engagement and monitoring is warranted.</p><p>Information is available at ROLCU.com or by calling 570-579-9988 in the Hazleton area and 570-285-2222 in the Wilkes-Barre area.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Pedri </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/web1_TTL091318Pedri2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Pedri </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jennifer Learn-Andes</p><p>jandes@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Luzerne County manager briefs citizens on projects in annual public forum